Roach Biobot, IBionicS Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Roboroach steering with a remote control

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Automatic Roboroach steering by Kinect (a motion sensing technology by Microsoft for Xbox 360 video game console)

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A short summary of our JOVE article "Early Metamorphic Insertion Technology for Insect Flight Behavior Monitoring".
Full article and complete video is available at:
"Early Metamorphic Insertion Technology for Insect Flight Behavior Monitoring"

by Alexander Verderber, Michael McKnight, Alper Bozkurt
July 12, 2014

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To help surviving victims buried under the rubble after natural disasters, biobots needs to localize them. The little backpack that biobot carries can detect where the sounds is coming from and autonomously steer the biobot towards the sound source. Note that the video is muted after 3 seconds otherwise the speaker plays the sound until biobot finds the source.
Publication: See our scientific paper in the Proceedings of IEEE Sensors Conference 2014 for more details...

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Researchers at North Carolina State University are training a swarm of unlikely heroes. By placing an array of microphones and electrode sensors onto a small circuit board, they've created what they call a "backpack" to be worn by Madagascar hissing cockroaches. The backpacks pick up sounds and help control the insect's movement. A researcher uses a joystick to steer the roach toward the sound source. This technology could help first responders find survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.

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Most consider them pesky critters, but Dr. Alper Bozkurt of North Carolina State University thinks that cockroaches have the potential to save human lives. By hacking their antennae and transforming them into remote-controlled creatures, he believes we can use the cyber roaches as a mobile search and rescue team to help find survivors during natural disasters.

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